Past Light
by Rapis-Razuri
Summary: "Perhaps Takumi was harsh when you first returned to us, but it doesn't mean you can just make these things up about him. If you have only come here to slander my brother's name, please leave." (Had she not been summoned to the World of Zenith, she never, ever would have considered the possibility that Corrin was telling the truth.) [Conquest/Heroes. Sakura, Fallen!Takumi]


I had this idea way back the "Fallen Heroes" banner came out, but never finished it until now. And apparently, today is Siblings Day, so the timing works out.

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Corrin tells her the truth six weeks after.

"_Takumi wasn't himself in his last days, possessed by something, just as King Garon was. We tried to save him, but he was too far gone to be saved. He died as himself. He was at peace with himself in the end, Sakura. Please don't blame yourself_."

But Sakura is not the same girl Corrin had rescued in the valley settlement two years ago. She does not _hate_ him, not really, but at this moment, she does feel… something not-quite positive towards him.

"That is a terrible thing to say, _Prince Corrin_," she replies. "Perhaps Takumi was harsh when you first returned to us, but it doesn't mean you can just make these things up about him. If you have only come here to slander my brother's name, please leave."

(Had she not been summoned to the World of Zenith, she never, _ever_ would have considered the possibility that Corrin was telling the truth.)

* * *

It is all overwhelming, this unfamiliar world with unfamiliar people.

Unfamiliar people who are called _heroes_.

Sakura doesn't feel like a hero.

(She thinks of the last time she tried to be a hero, when she tried to stand with her people only to crumble like a paper crane in a crushing stream.)

But she doesn't protest when she is called one and takes an unfamiliar staff in hand to do a very familiar duty.

* * *

Her family is not here, nor are her retainers, nor is Corrin, to her relief. But she makes friends.

Ninian reminds her of Azura, but Sakura can't help but think she has found a kindred spirit in the manakete dancer. General Klein kindly offers her advice when he catches her practicing her archery one day. Micaiah takes one look at her and Sakura feels as though the Silver-Haired Maiden could see into the very depths of her heart, but all she does is say how _strong_ Sakura is while the little orange bird chirps in agreement.

There is also Prince Lyon. Off the battlefield, he is kind, quiet and nervous. On the battlefield, a sort of mania seems to possess him when he opens the pages of his tome.

He doesn't look at her as she tends to his wounds. "I… I saw the way you looked at me back there, Princess Sakura. Did I scare you?"

She purses her lips, not wishing to offend. "No… Not really. I just had a thought, is all."

She finds it hard to believe that a man like Prince Lyon could be taken over by the Demon King. But she has seen him in battle and the prince himself has told her so.

It bothers her. It really, really does.

* * *

The prince and princess of Renais are summoned to Zenith shortly after.

Lyon develops a tendency to vanish whenever either of them are near.

"I can't face them," he reluctantly tells Sakura one day, "Not after everything I did."

"Lyon is our _friend_," Princess Eirika tells Sakura another day, expression pained, but determined. "My brother and I will never give up on him. No matter what."

* * *

And then finally…

"Sakura," Kiran says one day, looking nervous, "Would you happen to have an older brother named 'Takumi'?"

Her staff clatters to the floor.

She ignores the summoner's shout for her to come back as she runs. Had she listened, she might have been more prepared for the sight that awaited her.

"_Takumi wasn't himself in his last days, possessed by something, just as King Garon was. We tried to save him, but he was too far gone to be saved._"

* * *

If Sakura's demeanor around the Nohrians that have been summoned to Askr is uncomfortable for everyone involved, it was _nothing_ compared to the chaos that followed the first time a hero from Nohr comes face-to-face with her brother.

It is fortunate that summoned heroes cannot truly die within Zenith, because otherwise the first dinner after Takumi's arrival would have been a massacre. Princess Camilla is livid, Prince Leo furious, while Princess Elise does her best to diffuse tension with her smiles. Prince Xander keeps his siblings under control, but nonetheless glares sternly at everyone, from Takumi being restrained by Klein and Ephraim, to Sakura standing nearby doing nothing, to even Kiran who was trying to placate them all.

She barely hears the conversation between Kiran and the Nohrian royals. She could only stare horrified at her brother as he snarled and struggled like a feral animal.

_Corrin was telling the truth_, she realizes. _That is not my brother_.

* * *

Corrin _was_ telling the truth, but that _is_ her brother.

So long as he is kept away from the battlefield or anyone affiliated with Nohr, Takumi isn't particularly aggressive, only moody and reclusive. Sometimes, he has lucid moments. Once, he pats her head with a shaking, awkward hand. Most of the time, he is spacey, melancholy and confused.

During one lucid moment, he starts crying because he had thought that she was dead, saying how he should have saved her. Sakura hugs her brother tightly and underneath layers of clothing and skin, and muscle, she feels bones in places they should not be and broken in ways that should have made walking, fighting, and embracing impossible.

"D-Do you, think that it's possible that… that what happened to Takumi is similar to what happened to you?"

Prince Lyon gives her brother a speculating look, sighs, and replies sadly, "I'm almost certain of it."

"Then… Is there nothing that c-could be done?" _Is my brother truly gone?_

"If you want my opinion," Lyon says after a moment, "I think there's something about the magic here is holding whatever's possessing him back. This world… It's a strange one, isn't it?"

"Yes… It is."

* * *

She notices Alm nursing a burnt hand one day and shyly asks if he would like her to heal it.

"Why didn't you get this treated?" Healing is mandatory after each battle. Heroes couldn't die didn't mean they didn't feel pain.

He averts his gaze. "I didn't get it in battle."

"Sparring?" Just the word makes her think of Hana. Sakura smiles slightly.

Alm doesn't. "Not sparring."

"Oh." She wonders if he's been having a dispute with another hero. Perhaps it is with Prince Berkut? Sakura isn't sure about the details, but relations between the Rigilian prince and Alm are strained. She doesn't press him as it isn't her business, but Alm surprises her.

"I… I actually got this from Celica."

_Oh_.

"She calls herself Duma's servant, but sometimes… sometimes she'd beg me to kill her. I… I couldn't. She's still there. I _can't_. I just can't. She knows it too, so sometimes…" Alm's gaze darkens, "I don't know if she's doing it intentionally or not, but sometimes she attacks me, so I would _have_ to fight back."

He takes a deep breath. "I heard about your brother, Princess. That's why I'm telling you this. If people think you're a fool, well, you aren't the only fool in this place. I'm not giving up on Celica - _ever_ \- so don't give up on Takumi."

* * *

"Sakura…"

"Yes?"

"I… I still don't feel ready to face them… Eirika, Ephraim… But I'm ready to try."

"Oh Lyon, that's wonderful!"

"I have to you to thank," he says, "After seeing you with your brother… Up until now, I've been seeing my time here as a purgatory. You made me realize that this could be a second chance."

A second chance…

Sakura misses her brothers so much, just thinking about them still makes her heart ache. But here… She has one of them back, broken as he may be. Perhaps she should take it as a blessing rather than a curse.

* * *

They sit together in the gardens. Takumi opens and closes her eyes like a sleepy cat as he basks in the warmth of the sun.

"There… there is still something I don't understand."

"What is it, big brother?"

"Why are you doing all this? For me?"

"You're my brother," she says, thinking of starry nights and promises to make the darkness go away, "You've always looked after me, so it's my turn to look after you."


End file.
